Robotic arm built brick by Lego brick
SANT CUGAT, Spain — David Aguilar has built himself a robotic prosthetic arm using Lego pieces after being born without a right forearm due to a rare genetic condition.
Aguilar, 19, who studies bioengineering at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya in Spain, is already using his fourth model of the colourful prosthetic and his dream is to design affordable robotic limbs for those who need them.
Once his favourite toys, the plastic bricks became the building material for Aguilar’s first, still very rudimentary, artificial arm at the age of nine, and each new version had more movement capability than the one before.
“As a child I was very nervous to be in front of other guys, because I was different, but that didn’t stop me believing in my dreams,” said Aguilar, who is from Andorra.